Formula 1: 3 possible landing spots for Carlos Sainz Jr. in 2025
By Asher Fair
After months of rumors that the two parties were heading in this direction, Ferrari and Charles Leclerc formally announced last month that they had come to terms on a multi-year contract extension for the 26-year-old Monegasque driver, who has been with the team since replacing Kimi Raikkonen in 2019.
Now the Scuderia's silly season focus has shifted to Carlos Sainz Jr., who remains under contract through only the 2024 season. What does his future hold?
Here are three possible landing spots for Sainz for the 2025 Formula 1 season and beyond.
Carlos Sainz landing spots: No. 1 - Ferrari
Despite suggestions from some prominent Formula 1 figures that Ferrari's driver lineup is the problem, they could do much worse than offering an extension to Carlos Sainz Jr.
When Leclerc joined Ferrari as the "next big thing" in 2019, he proved the doubters wrong and consistently beat four-time world champion teammate Sebastian Vettel. He did so in 2020 as well. Then in 2021, Sainz made the move to Ferrari and immediately beat Leclerc.
Leclerc finished higher than Sainz again in the 2022 season (and managed to claw his way back ahead in the 2023 season finale), but Sainz is the only one of the team's two drivers with race wins in each of the last two seasons. He won the one race on the 22-race 2023 schedule which Red Bull did not.
Unless Lewis Hamilton is available, why throw a dart and hope it hits on someone better than arguably the most under-the-radar driver on the grid?